103 Extermination Mission

Mune took the paper and handed it to Nova.

『Alright. Now that that's over with, here is a mission, what do you think about it?』[Mune]

Nova took it and began to examine it.

It was a high quality piece of paper that had a magical circle and some additional information about the mission on it.

「...Let's see… Extermination mission… What do the stars mean? 4 of them? Go to… exterminate a nest of brownlings?」[Nova]

Nova thought about it for a moment before deciding that it seemed relatively fine.

『Doesn't seem bad. I think we should do it.』[Nova]

Mune nodded before taking it and causing it to suddenly erupt into flames before crushing it into his hand.

『Huh? Why did you burn it?!』[Nova]

Mune looked at Nova with a blank look.

Once he opened the palm of his hand, a small crystal took its place.

『Accept missions by pouring mana into them. It'll cause the paper to burst into flames and do a reverse summon. The paper and the crystal locations get swapped, from the school's Raidagem office to your hand. Since it's still spacetime magic, it does take a sizable amount of mana, so only the 4th years are permitted to take missions.』[Mune]

Nova felt like the world of magic was getting more complicated every day…

Especially when he's tired and without sleep…

『...Why doesn't the school just use causal magic, like you said? Wouldn't that save mana?』[Nova]

Mune's face slightly distorted, as if he ate something bitter or sour.

Nova was confused and irritated a bit more.

『..Huh?! Aren't I right?!』[Nova]

Mune crushed the crystal into pieces.

『Kay. I'll explain as we run. We gotta hit the quota of 5 tonight.』[Mune]

Nova braced himself for a teleport experience.

After a moment, he found himself in a place that felt similar to the forest, but not quite.

『Wisp.』[Mune]

A… wispy ball of light appeared next to Mune and lit up the dark surroundings.

『Woah! How do I make one of those?』[Nova]

Mune disregarded that question.

『Okay. I'll start with talking about causal magic first.』[Mune]

He looked into the distance a bit before starting into a sprint.

『Huh?! Wait!』[Nova]

Nova began to run with him while Mune spoke.

『Causal magic is a very vague kind of magic that describes a magic that uses a cause and effect.』[Mune]

Nova was confused, but definitely interested.

『So, how does my Area translate to that?』[Nova]

『Should be something like… if you want to go there, you just do? To be more accurate, it should defy the rules of causality.』[Mune]

Nova sort of got a gist of what he was saying.

『So, are you saying it's kind of like...』[Nova]

...Now that he spoke out loud, he didn't know how to finish that sentence.

『...Nope. I have no idea either. Just don't worry about it for now. Though it is true that the more understanding you have of it, the stronger the ability will be.』[Mune]

Nova really didn't expect Mune to know this much about magic.

He found himself sort of building a strange kind of respect for him.

『...More understanding? Where did you learn about all of this?』[Nova]

Mune remained casually running forward even while talking.

『I have a mentor. Also, any theoretical knowledge comes in your third year classes.』[Mune]

『Oh. What about the paper? How do you know about that?』[Nova]

The trees that they were passing by seemed to start decreasing slowly.

『I've been in Raidagem teams for 4 years, Nova. Of course I'd know.』[Mune]

『Oh….』[Nova]

Nova felt a bit embarrassed for even asking.

『It's alright. It's the job of the fourth years to teach the first years.』[Mune]

Nova looked to the side to see a thin smile on Mune's face.

Suddenly, Mune's smile disappeared, though.

『We're here.』[Mune]

He stopped suddenly, along with Nova.

Mune mumbled something and his katana appeared next to him.

Nova followed in suit and summoned Reischneid.

He flicked the hilt to his side and the blade materialized at a fast rate.

It seemed like the faster his mana flowed, the faster the blade would materialize.

『Okay! Where are they?』[Nova]

He got on guard, anticipating the huge group of rank 5 brownlings to suddenly attack them.

『In the clearing up ahead. Just cover me and we'll be fine.』[Mune]

『Got it.』[Nova]

Mune started to run with the blade still floating by his side.

Nova nodded before running up ahead with Mune as well.

Once they got closer into the clearing they were exposed to a scene full of chaos.

There were brownlings as far as the eye could see, with different shapes, sizes, and even variants of some normal brownlings, causing Nova to stop for a moment, Mune stopping with him.

『...How difficult is a four star mission?』[Nova]

Mune put his finger up to his chin, as if he was thinking really hard about it.

『Hmm… Each star would represent a 4th year that would have to tag along. Normally after a certain point, you would have to team up with other Raidagem teams to take on certain missions.』[Mune]

『...Mune. This is a 4 star mission...』[Nova]

He shrugged with a look of helplessness.

『You chose this mission. Besides, this is nothing compared to the missions that I normally do.』[Mune]

Nova was surprised to hear that a mission that required 4 fourth years would be called "nothing".

『How many stars was that mission 3 nights ago?』[Nova]

『It was 2, which wasn't bad. You should be worth maybe 1/10th of a fourth year, which means you'll be well on your way to my level soon.』[Mune]

Nova had a complicated look on his face, mixed with irritation, exhaustion, and anxiety.

『...How many average fourth years are you worth?』[Nova]

Mune had a smug grin on his face.

『At least 10.』[Mune]

He began to rush into the clearing, leaving Nova to watch his back.